The narrator lists the occupants of ersatz Buick. The husband, the wife (powdering herself), the maid, the kids (fighting), the dog (with its head out the window, tongue out), cat (the standard Avery design), canary...
Cue the mother-in-law joke.
By the way, the gag was borrowed for an episode of The Jetsons. How much did Hanna-Barbera steal from Tex Avery anyway?
The main narrator is Gil Warren, who voiced some spot gag cartoons for Avery at Warners. June Foray is easily recognisable as the female narrator.
I know that mother-in-law jokes were a staple of gag writers, comic strips, cartoons and sitcoms, but growing up, I never understood their persistence or heavy usage. Maybe because both my parents were always on very friendly terms with their mothers-in-law. I don't recall their ever being any tension or unpleasantness. To be honest, I've never known anybody who did have the cliched adversarial relationship with their mother-in-law. Oh, sure, some in-laws are friendlier than others. Some maybe a little cooler with each other. But that blood-in-their-eye loathing for their son/daughter/mother/father -in-law? I've never seen it in real life.
ReplyDeleteI've been married (and divorced) twice, and I liked both sets of in-laws more than my own family. I'm sure there are plenty of married folks out there who are the opposite though.
DeleteI'm still trying to figure out the "Mother in law theme" - they always played a little 9 note ditty, and as I've learned from Carl Stalling, knowing the name of the tune just makes the joke better.
ReplyDeleteStill looking!
Silver Threads Among the Gold.
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